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I have some old figures I want to strip.

I tried the following method:

1. Boil in water.

2. Dry.

3. Soak overnight in Dettol.

4. Scrub with old toothbrush and soap.

The results were mixed. One of the figures which was just black primed scrubbed up pretty well. Another one's paint became fairly ragged but did not clear up much. The other two were hardly touched.

I can't remember if these figures are painted with acrylics or enamels. Would this make a difference?

Supplementary question -- What's good at stripping polyurethane varnish?

As I am in the UK suggestions of US type products are not useful. I'm looking for stuff I can buy easily in the UK.

Plastic or Metal? Acutally it doesn't matter, use brake fluid. In addition to reacting with paint, it breaks down the bonds of glue. Will not harm plastic or metal. I would never boil plastic mini's, thus I assume you have metal ones.

Otherwise I'll suggest a whole host of US products that you probalby can't get or have equivalents that neither one of us knows about. (aka simple green (safe for plastic/metal), pinesol (metal only, will melt plastic))

Sorry, I should have said metal.

The plasticity point of polystyrene is 96 degrees so boiling plastic figures is a bad idea.

I'll have to try brake fluid. It's nasty stuff, isn't it?

Thanks...

Fairly nasty, yes. It also absorbs moisture from the air and loses potency as a stripper, I understand. Personally, I rather use acetone, though that's hardly better.

I've used both break fluid and Nitromors paint stripper on my metal minis with mixed results.  Both do tend to leave some paint in the deepest recesses but if you've got the patience you could probably pick it all out with a toothpick.

Both are pretty nasty to get on your skin (especially the Nitromors) so use gloves and LOTS of hot soapy water.  And don't go putting it down the drains!

apparently cilit bang works- haven't tried it myself but I saw one of the GW staffers using it on a warhound titan he was going to repaint-

worth a try- it seemed to work well on the resin-

Try Simple Green. It's a non-toxic cleaning product. Most places stock in their automotive section (I know Target does), but it might be in with household cleaners. Soak plastic or metal in it, doesn't matter. Usually, a good rinse in the sink will knock most of the paint off. It doesn't do a very good job taking primer off plastics, but otherwise is solid.

For metal models, you could always pop by to your local Halfords and get their mineral/white spirits. Soak the minis for a day or two and all the paint will scrub right off. Not as nasty as brake fluid, and reasonably effective.

Cheers.

If you're doing metal, there's no reason not to use Simple Green. It works a charm, it really does, and it's nice to be able to fish the things out with your bare hands.

Simple green is good, Castrol Superclean (purple bottle in automotive usually) works great, and pine sol in about a 50% dilution overnight works very well on metal models (you'll want to get rid of plastic parts though, it tends to make the outer layers of plastic really soft)

I've used Nitromors in the past, I hate even the smell of the stuff and it's too gloopy. Something very fluid that will reach into all the crevices and wash out easily is best.

I'll go for Cilit Bang and Simple Green first, to see if I can avoid the brake fluid.

Thanks for all the advice.

Paint Stripping Update.

Okay, I have had good success with Homebase own-brand brush cleaning/restoring fluid.

I used this because I found a bottle of it in my shed, so it was cheap. And it dissolves both oil and water based paints, which is great when you don't know if you are dealing with acrylics or enamels. I am astonished I didn't think of it earlier.

Since the fluid can affect some plastics, I put it into an old metal coffee can and immersed the figures. I also put in a round slotta-base to see what would happen. I left it all for a week with the cover on, outside where no-one would spill it.

After a week the liquid was very turbid and there was a lot of sludge on the bottom of the can. I spooned out the figures carefully and put them into a large bowl of soapy water and a few minutes work with an old toothbrush got very good results. Like Mole said, there are still some traces of paint in the deep crevices; a toothpick will deal with this.

The slotta-base was completely dissolved, so I definitely do not recommend this product for use on plastic figures. It did not affect Milliput on the figures.

The disadvantage of this stuff is that it stinks of highly inflammable organic chemicals and is harmful to the enviroment so you can't tip it down the drain. The bottle says to take it to the council recycling facility.

Oh, never thought to try brush cleaner.

Good review for us UK'ers!

Simple Green is simply the best way to strip miniatures.

Step 1
Get a glass or plastic jar with a lid.

Step 2
Fill jar up with enough Simple Green to submerge the entire miniature(s).

Step 3
Let miniature soak for no less than 4 hours. 16 hours recommended. 24-48 hours for stubborn old paint.

Step 4
Remove miniature from solution and scrub with a brush without water. Once all the paint is off, run under warm water while scrubbing with toothbrush.

That's it. The paint should literally peel off. Works 100% of the time. The solution is also good for about 60 days, it then looses much of it's stripping abilities.

I dont think you can get Simple Green in the UK.

I used cheap nail varnish remover, its not the best but designed to work on people so its probably a bit safer.

Posted By Orlanth on 10/15/2007 4:10 PM
I dont think you can get Simple Green in the UK.

I used cheap nail varnish remover, its not the best but designed to work on people so its probably a bit safer.

The link I offered is for the UK specifically. Yes, SG is available in the UK.

Interesting link there Arkblade, but paying £15 (about $30) for a litre of cleaning product is ridiculous!

Has anyone ever tried one of those water vibration tubs for paint stripping? I usually use Simple Green, but I have a lot of second hand plastic minis with stubborn spraypaint like stuff on them, and it isn't doing so well. (Otherwise it is stupendous, just don't get it in your mouth.) I saw one of those tubs at Harbor Freight for like 30$ and I am tempted to pick it up and try since it works for jewelry well with just water, and I am told it is great for cleaning pistols. Anyone ever give it a shot?

Do you mean an ultrasonic bath? I've got one of them for cleaning my glasses. I shall give it a go and let you know how I get on.

Exactly what I mean! Let me know... also, do you mean eye glasses? I might need to get it for that alone!

Well, I ran a couple of minis (plastic and metal) through two cycles in the ultrasonic bath (for a total of about 30 minutes) and it didn't seem to have much of an effect. The paint seemed a little bit softer - it wouldn't come off when scrubbed with a toothbrush but I could scrap it off pretty easily with my fingernail.

Yeah, I do mean eye glasses. Here in the UK it's mostly a given when someone says glasses that they mean eyewear. We may occasionally say drinking glasses for the other kind but that's mainly for posh people. The only thing I would warn against it that the ultrasonic bath took the varnish off the arms of my husband's sunglasses so that's something to be careful of.

I've got them soaking in Cilit Bang now - lets see how that works.

Can you put Simple Green in an Ultra Sonic Bath? That might be fairly sexy.

I will have to grab one for my glasses. I don't know how the things get so many smudges on them; you would think I have Vaseline fired at my eyes periodically throughout the day...